Papantonio: Merck’s Fosamax Lies Are Destroying Lives

[GoLeft TV]

Run time: 08:53 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVpyB1OD4N4   Posted on YouTube: August 08, 2011 By YouTube Member: golefttv Views on YouTube: 47   Posted on DU: August 08, 2011 By DU Member: GoLeft TV Views on DU: 1027

 
Don’t kid yourself - Pharmaceutical companies are not concerned with helping people live better lives. The only things that these companies care about are profits. If a company can make billions of dollars at the expense of human lives, you can bet that they will always choose the profits over the patient. Mike Papantonio talks about the latest example of corporate greed at the expense of consumer safety with attorney Tim O’Brien.

[indy legend]

1. But Tea baggers love no regulation don't they?

We don't need protection from these predatory fuckers. It's the free market at work. (Sarcasm)

[Mojorabbit]

2. I wonder why they did not have a physician discussing

the possible side effects of the med instead of an attorney. Surely there is one who has something to say if the claims are as dire as it seems according to this attorney?

[Overseas]

4. Yeah, just the darn lawyer who has read hundreds of medical reports on the subject and

reviewed hundreds of patient files.

Just one of the leading consumer lawyers in the nation.

You go ahead and take that stuff. Don't want to believe those dang lawyers.

[Mojorabbit]

5. I went and looked up some articles

As a retired nurse I normally look to medical literature and not attorneys for my medical info.
But as I am not feeling well today due to a flare of my MS here is what my first link says.
Yea I know it is US news and world report but it is my first hit and I am not up to a lot of real research.

Lane said there are several theories as to how alendronate could be related to these fractures. One is that the drug slows down the development of new collagen, and he said new collagen is very strong. Another could be because there is slower bone turnover on the medications. That could mean there may be accumulated microdamage in the bone, making it more susceptible to fracture in certain women.

Lane said that women taking this medication should keep taking it, and these findings shouldn't cause them alarm. "This is a great drug that does wonderful things. Bisphosphonates have dropped the rate of hip fractures," he added.

Ron Rogers, a spokesman for Merck, which manufactures Fosamax, said, "Fosamax has not been associated with an increased risk of fracture at any skeletal site." Rogers also noted that this study didn't prove a cause and effect relationship between the drug and these unusual fractures, and that the researchers noted that 63 percent of women treated for low-energy fractures weren't taking bisphosphonates at all. (of course this is merck talking :eyes: :puke: )

Dr. Loren Wissner Greene, co-director of the osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease program at the New York University School of Medicine, agreed that this study has just pointed out an association between Fosamax use and these fractures, not proven a causal relationship.

Still, Greene said she believes these atypical breaks probably are related to the medication, although she added, "If this is a related complication, it appears to be very rare."
Like Lane, she said, "Alendronate is still a very valuable drug in decreasing the risk of hip fracture." But, she said, what would be helpful is a test that could identify who is in the sub-population that might have a problem on this medication.

ON the other hand my husband who is a family physician no longer uses it as he does not think it is worth the risk. He uses other drugs for the problem. Still it seems if one is doing a show on the problems with the drug that they would have a medical expert on to talk about the risks and possible side effects.

[Overseas]

3. K&R. I was really shocked to learn that Fosamax is so dangerous.

How sad that Merck wasn't satisfied with having a useful drug for a limited patient population and limited term use and wanted to grow grow grow their market from millions to billions of dollars per year.

The ads made it look so wonderful and helpful. It is astounding to learn more about how dangerous it really is-- with jaws dissolving and femur fractures in women who were taking it to be safe from osteoporosis!

[PDJane]

6. Mother's specialist informed us that Fosamax

was virtually useless; it will not work at all unless you take Calcia with it, and that's only because the calcia itself will build up bone mass.